Romain Grosjean is to become a father, the French driver revealed this weekend in a tweet announcing this his wife Marion ඣiꦺs expecting.

"Hi everyone, I'm very happy to confirm that [Marion] and I are expecting our first baby, due thiꦰs summer. We are absolutely delighted!," he posted in English on Twitter on Saturday evening.

On Sunday morning, the Lotus driver acknowledged the repli🎃es he'd received overnight with "Thanks🅷 to everyone for your congrats!"

Grosjean also posted a longer message in French on his Facebook page, which read: "𝔍Hi all, I'm using my official fan page to announce that Marion and I are expecting a haꦏppy event for this summer.

"We're really excited! Now, being discrete in nature as the other one, you will understand that we do not want to communicate this new advantage ;-)" he added. "Thaꦿt said, be sure that I focus 100🌟% on the test session in Jerez!

"Thank you for your support!" he finished.

Grosjean married his long-term partner, French TV TF1 motorsport jou🌄rnalist Marion Jolles, in June last year. The couple married in a mid-week ceremony at Chamonix attended by family and close friends, which included Lotus F1 team 🃏principal Eric Boullier.

The secret of the pregnancy had been all-but leaked a few days earlier when photos of the couple arriving at a gala last weekend strongly hinted that Marion might be expecting, but it wasn't until Saturday when Grosjean made the announceme🐬nt hims༺elf via social media that the story was officially confirmed.

After the announcement it was quickly back down the business for the driver, with Grosjean adding on Twitter that he still had to pack in time to head off to J꧂erez for the first four day pre-season test ahead of the start of this year's F1 Grand Prix season.